The Middlewich Folk and Boat Festival is held every June in Middlewich, Cheshire, England. Each year 30,000 people and 400 boats attend the festival. Two members of the Irish band the Middlewich Paddies started the festival in 1990. Guardian Online declared the festival to be amongst the top three folk festivals in England.
The initial festival was held on the 15 June 1990; it was a relatively small occasion yet still lasted for 3 days and ended up being enjoyed by everyone within the town. There were a couple of problems for the 1st festival, for instance on Fri evening the main marquee collapsed. However, the men and women of the town pulled together and re-erected it within an hour.
The festival is spread throughout the town, with bands playing in local venues. There are craft and homemade food stalls along the canal. Morris dancing and other forms of folk dancing are also featured at the festival. The main action takes place at the Kings Lock and Big Lock pubs that are near the canal. Each year they hold a Celidh night featuring Scottish and Irish music, poetry, dancing and storytelling.
Each year hundreds of people camp at the Sutton Lane campsite, which is a 15 minute walk from the main events. A shuttle bus runs from the site on Saturday and Sunday. The site normally opens on Friday evening and closes on Monday morning so that festival goers can enjoy all of the acts on Saturday and Sunday.
Hundreds of bands have played the festival over the years including, Bob Geldof, The Demon Barbers, Stomp, Blazing’ Fiddles, Blue Murder, Ade Edmondson’s Bad Shepherds and Bellowhead. Simply because the majority of the venues are modest as well as intimate it is a good festival to see your favourite band at.
The festival is designed not only to be a platform for folk bands, but to also celebrate Middlewich’s industrial roots, in particular its canal. The canal was built to move coal and raw materials into the town so they could produce salt. The salt that was produced in the town was then distributed using that same canal.
Want to find out more about British Folk? Visit us and read all about the best folk music around.